A familiar dragon, a dragon familiar wait what?
by Zahkrii
Summary: Set a few years after the Hong Kong Longs, Jake is already attending college with his girlfriend Rose, has a fun job and it has been a while since there had been any major problems in the magical community. Life was finally as peaceful as it could get, until one day he was acciently summoned by a girl that claims him to be her familiar.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Jake, how long so you take there? The customer's waiting!", Dale shouted into the workshop. Jake could hear that the old man was losing his patience.

"Almost ready, give me five for clean-up and some polish for the extra shine! But it's already all tested and ready to go!", he answer while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Jake Long, the American Dragon, also known as the AmDrag, was sometimes annoyed by the pressure the owner of the shop, Dale Udem, put him through, but in the end he was always happy with his current occupation. He couldn't wish for something else that would still be better than his gramps' dusty store. Not that he wouldn't still show up there regularly, but it wasn't how he wanted to spend his days and when one day the opportunity came up, he was all too happy to get out of there. Just a few months ago he graduated from highschool and went straight to college, together with Rose, obviously. Ever since he had met her back in Hongkong, things had pretty much been all flowers and candy. He got better at school with new motivation, learned a lot of magic tricks from his grandfather as he did finally prove himself mature enough and he really got rose back. She had promised him that as soon as she'd finish highschool, she'd move back to New York no matter what. They tried to see each other as often as possible in the meantime which almost absolutely narrowed down to their dream dates, but he was already used to that from back when she was still part of the Huntsclan. And yet with their coming of age a lot of things were set in motion. She moved back to NY in a small apartment while attending college, paying her tution by giving martial arts and self defense lessons in the evening. It wasn't easy to come by along with the lessons and still getting to see each other, but they managed and couldn't be happier considering they had been quite violently forced apart twice before.

While Rose was giving lessons in a dojo, Jake had found himself a job with a half-dwarf he had met on a mission. Dale Udem was a nice guy overall, but his heritage was quite visible; more than a foot shorter than most people and arms like he was lifting tanks, bald but with a hude beard. He was still in contact with the magical community, but just so he didn't miss anything important. He preferred working with machines, so he soon opened his own repair store for anything with an engine and just large enough to fit into the workshop. When he had trouble with a leprechaun who was terribly insitent to sell him a collection of tools and the American Dragon came by to take care of the golddigger, he found a notice that Dale was hiring a part-timer to help him out with the repairs. Making the deal then and there, Dale accepted the condition that Jake would sometimes have to run off for his dragon duties. The world wouldn't keep the feet down just because its guardian needed some cash after all.

Just as Jake got up, finally finished with cleaning the bike, his mobile rang. "Aw man, what is it now?", he sighed and flipped it open. Gramps again. Goblins causing a ruckus in downtown. "Yeah, like, this is just what I needed today." He put his phone away again and finally presented the bike to the customer. Jake just gave a short summary on the repairs done as he soon had to excuse himself: "Boss, gotta move out, customer in downtown suddenly got stuck, probably engine, I'll see what I can do, bye!"

"But make it quick so you'll be back in time for closing!", Dale shouted after him as the AmDrag was already rushing out of the door.

* * *

Meanwhile, in anther magical community...

Today was the day. The day she would finally not fail. The second day of her second year. The day they finally got to summon their familiars. And nobody had ever failed to summon a familiar. Even though she, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, "the Zero",would get more than an explosion out of it, that she knew as a fact... the thought. Hoped. Prayed. She might as well just drop out if she couldn't even summon a familiar. The lifelong bond between Mage and Familiar had been a sacred tradition ever since the days of Bremir. If she failed to summon a familiar today, she'd go home. But surely, she couldn't be _that_ bad, could she?

She spent the morning with a short breakfast and going through the books for what felt like a thousand times. She honestly didn't know what was even wrong. Concentration, willpower, wand, she had everything done the way the books described it. Sometimes it felt like a curse, being able to cause nothing but explosions. Louise hated being called the Zero, yet she understood why; ever since the first most basic spells, she caused nothing but explosions with varying degrees of destruction as a result. Just yesterday she had blown up the classroom again when the new teacher called her to the front for a simple transmutation spell.

 _Today... today I'll show them all that I'm not a Zero!_

* * *

Despite having been so sure of everything before, the doubts caught up with Louise as one student after the other summoned their familiar under the supervision of Mr. Colbert. The majority of the students summoned regular animals, the rest was blessed with magical beasts, of which only a few were really impressive, mostly Kirche's Salamander and Tabitha's dragon. Both of them were impressive mages, so the familiars fit them quite well. It got her worried about what her familiar would be like. Would it be something powerful? Destructive? Perhaps even evil? It was sure to be something unique, but what could be more unique than a dragon as familiar in the second year...

"Now, was that everyone?", Mr. Colbert asked loudly.

"No, we still have Miss Valliere to go", Kirche said and everyone at least chuckled on that.

With a grim face, said noble stepped forward despite the murmur around her.

"Louise the Zero!"

"What will she summon?"

"There's no way she can summon anything! We'll just have another explosion, nothing else."

"After all that boasting, you'll summon something more amazing than this little guy here, right, Louise?", Kirche said with a condescending voice while petting her salamander.

Louise huffed: "Of course!" _Please..._

Nobody was surprised when the incantation resulted in another explosion, but all fell silent when the dust cloud settled and they saw just what Louise had summoned...

* * *

After rushing out of the shop, Jake quickly ran into an empty side street to get to his real work. For the last few years, he got more and more lessons on spellcasting, mostly easy utility spells that saved him a lot of time. One of these was a spell that got rid of all the dirt; there were a few situations when he suddenly appeared covered in dirt. Another was a transparency spell, it didn't make him completely invisible but he was little more than a passing shadow for most and by the time they looked twice, he was already gone. After applying both and turning into his dragon form, Jake took off towards downtown.

The job seemed easy enough at first, but when he saw two groups of goblins fighting each other in a park, probably over territory again, and tried to interfere, they suddenly stopped fighting and ran away in different directions. Creating a Doppelganger on a split second decision, each one hurried after the goblins who proved to be quite elusive. After another corner, he lost their trace. _Damn it all, where did they go?_ He rose above the buildings to get a better overview. With his Eyes of the Dragon's power it didn't take him lok to find them again. At some point they had turned around and tried to sneak away right beneath him, only by sheer luck he had noticed them. "GOTCHA!", he yelled and made a dive toward them. Finally he got them...

...If only it hadn't been for the strange green orb of light that suddenly appeared right in front of him. Too late to even try to evade, he flew straight through it and went tumbling through... space? In the shock he reverted to his human form when he noticed that he was in fact rushing towards another shining light and heard a female voice. Sadly, said light proved to be quite solid when he crashed into it back forwards and it blew the air out of his lungs. He rolled over while groaning and coughing from pain and dust. When his vision cleared up, Jake found himself surrounded by many young wizards if their clothes weren't just cosplay. One of them, a short pink-haired girl, was involved in a heated discussion with an adult, probably a teacher of some sorts? Too bad he couldn't understand what they said, he already had to learn most european languages when he had an assignment or meeting abroad but none of it helped him here. It did sound a bit like French but definitely wasn't it. When the girl suddenly stomped towards him with an annoyed look on her face, his first reaction was a roll backwards. He just barely made it, though, and suddenly felt terribly dizzy as his vision began to blur and darken again. The next thing he noticed was her hand on his cheek and suddenly, to his shock, she kissed him. "HEY! I have a girlfriend already, what the hell do you think you're doing!?", he yelled. He knew he wasn't at fault for whatever was happening right now but it still disturbed him a lot. Even mor disturbing wa the fact that his whole body felt like it was cooking. "What... what is happening?", he asked angrily but still couldn't understand her reply. "...what?" After surges of pain like having hot iron pressed on his left hand, his consciousness was embraced by a cold darkness.

* * *

 _Wow. Now that was a nasty dream. How hard did I hit the wall to deserve something like that?,_ Jake thought as he slowly woke up and sat up on whatever scratchy stuff he was lying. Feeling around he suspected his bed to be a pile of junk but instead it was... hay? _Oh no._ Looking around and finding himself in a terribly old-fashioned room ( _Gramps would SO love to see this_ ), his eyes met those of his wannabe-affair. _Oh, freaking hell, please no._ She was still speaking this strange language like she hadn't noticed that he didn't understand a word of it. _Wait. Waitwaitwait. Why didn't I think of that earlier?_ He turned his head away from her a bit so that she wouldn't see what he was doing and activated his Ear of the Dragon which he enhanced further with a spell he had been taught for his first missions in Canada, just behind the border. "But I've given up. I'm going to have you as my familiar. Be honored", the girl said while going away and he was happy to have managed the translator spell. _FAMILIAR? You've gotta be kidding me!_ "No! Absolutely not! Forget it! I need to go back as soon as possible, no, right now! Gods, my boss will be angry..." Jake shouted as he jumped up and looked after her as she went to a wardrobe and started undressing. _What the...?_ He was still looking at her in stupor when her blouse and skirt landed on his face. "Wash those! Even if you don't understand our language, a familiar can understand that much." Oh, but he understood her. With his face contorted with spite, he threw the clothes on the nearby bed and stomped towards the door. He didn't pay her any more attention, but stated turning towards her when she yelled " _Ansur Ver Ang_ ", but it was already too late as an explosion crushed into his side. He quickly regained his senses, but there was still this strange ringing noise in his ear. _Well, that was the last bit of patience_ , he thought as he got up and walked towards her: "I held back until now because I have more urgent stuff to do, but if I have to use force..."

"I understand! I understood that!", the girl said, just as his hand landed on her shoulders.

"Did you just say 'I understand'?"

She nodded and he hesitated. In spite of her assault, perhaps he wouldn't have to use force after all. "Say something", she requested.

"What, so you suddenly learned to speak English?"

"What does this mean? I cast a spell of silence on you!", she said and let her head hang down with a sigh, "another failure... You, what's your name?"

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "For all I know it's common courtesy for the host to introduce himself first but since noe of you seem to have any manners, whatever. I'm Jake Long."

"Jakelong?" she asked while her face clearly showed irritation.

"More important, why am I here?"

"I have summoned you, of course. As a familiar, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that familiar thing. Sorry to say, but no deal. Nope. Can't do."

She just looked at him, completely flabbergasted. One might think she just saw the most impossible thing in the world, whatever it was... after all Jake Long had seen all kinds of impossibles already, including dating the Huntsgirl. "What did you just say?"

"If you need official help with something, you should just have asked your local guardian, no point in summoning me somewhere. And about that familiar, I have to maintain neutrality, so something like that is an absolute no-go. That one time with the leprechauns was enough of a lesson for me. Where are we even? Scotland? Germany?"

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Sit down. I can't make much sense of the rest you where saying, so let's first talk about the 'where' and 'why'."

* * *

Jake had sat down on the a chair although she had insited for him to sit on the pile of hay, his chin resting on the palm of his hand by now. "So it's like that," he tried to recall all the information of the last few minutes, "this is the kingdom of Tristain, on the continent of Harkegenia", she nodded and he continued, "and you are a student at the Institute of Magic here."

"I won't allow a familiar to call me 'you'", the pinkette mentioned arrogantly, "my name is Louise. Louise de la Valliere."

"Yeah, right, whatever, and I'm supposed to be that familiar the mages always tote around, but I already-" He stopped talking when her sigh made it obvious that she wasn't even listening to him.

"Why is my familiar a peasant boy? I wanted something cool like a dragon or a griffon!", Louise complained, just to notice that her familiar had used her distraction to escape. "Jake? A familiar running away? You're kidding!", he heard her yell with his enhanced senses. _Yeah, the hell will freeze before a country's guardian dragon becomes someone's personal familiar. Being a boyfriend is binding enough as it already is!,_ he thought while running down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, he stopped before running around the corner. In the corridor another blonde student was flirting with a brunette in the most cliche way.

"I'm good at baking souffles", the girl said while being quite close to him.

"I'd love to try one."

"Really?!"

"Of course, Ketty. I wouldn't lie to your eyes." Jake nearly had to throw up from all the sparkles surrounding that guy.

"Lord Guiche!" _How can she even fall for that?_

"There's nothing hidden behind my feelings for you."

Jake decided that now was his chance as good as ever and tried to casually walk past them, which not much to his surprise failed completely. "Isn't that the peasan that Lousie summoned?" Guiche noticed, but jake just kept walking.

"In today's ritual?It caused quite a stir among the first year students as well."

"He fainted suddenly and stopped moving, so it was quite troublesome for us. Hold on you!" the student called and Jake stopped to turn around to him.

"Yes?"

"A peasant putting a noble to trouble and not even a word of thanks?"

"Funny how nobody knows who they're talking to. Oh well, thanks for the help though" he said as he already kept going. "See ya, or not." _Irritating jerk._

He suddenly heard fast steps coming down the stairs, so he increased his own pace too. As he heard them talking above while still in the hallway, he slowed down to hear Guiche mock Louise that nothing else was expected from her.

From the end of the next flight of stairs, he finally saw the exit, just past a fountain where a busty redhead was clinging to another boy. He ignored them and started sprinting as he heard his wannabe-master yell behind him: "Oh, he's over there!"

"Right", Guiche commented.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?", the redhead asked.

"Oh just listen to this!" Guiche started but was interrupted by Louise again.

"Knock it of! He's getting away!"

Damn, they were already way to close. Jake just jumped down the last flight of stairs past the door and landed on grass. _Good. being outside makes it a lot easier already. Now, where do I need to go?,_ he thought but was interrupted when he lost his footing. Out of reflex, he cast an antimagical shield around himself which left him stumbling around when he suddenly landed and almost fell. He turned around to his pursuers and yelled: "Hey! I don't know what exactly what you were planning to do, but it was definitely the LAST thing you'll do!", and got in his combat-ready pose. They may have been mean guys, but the Huntsclan had been good at martial arts if nothing else and Rose had taught him pretty much everything in case he couldn't rely on magic. and when around these madmen, he didn't want to let out all of his skills at once since he still didin't know their capabiilties.

Guiche and Louise were just standing there, completely stunned, Guiche's Rose still lift and pointed somewhere upwards. They were approached by the redhead who was still laughing. "A familiar that runs from his master? It's too funny! What's this? Hey, Hey? What are you guys waiting for?"

Guiche grit his teeth and swung his rose again. This time more visible, a small green sparkling cloud appeared where the levitation spell hit the invisible shield. He looked around hurriedly. "Hey, whoever you are, I'd advise you to come out right now! Interfering with another person's familiar is not a joking matter!"

 _Great. Now he's totally going nuts._ Jake relaxed and turnedaround to go away. If this was the extent of their efforts, he'd have nothing to fear from them. His look turned towards the night sky...

and noticed a small red and a large clear blue moon. "Fuck. You're kidding, right?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Earth?" Louise asked curiously.

"Yeah, up until a while ago I was in New York City, America, on Earth." Jake had, after some internal struggle, accompanied Louise back up into her room so they could talk without getting disturbed. So far, that effort remained fruitless.

"I don't believe it. For such a different world to exist..."

"It's not like I want you to exist either! If you didn't, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. Anyway, take me back to where I used to be!"

"Impossible."

He couldn't believe it. He had already noticed that this stuck-up self-assured attitude was a common trait of the nobles of this... no, of any world. "Don't say that so simply! I have responsibilities back home, you know?"

"No matter who it is with or where they are from, the contract is absolute", Louise said while undressing and threw her clothes to him again. he shoved them aside and raised from the chair. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"Changing for bed. Why?"

"I already have a girlfriend, but are you really fine with a guy watching?"

"Hard to believe that someone like you has a girlfriend. and you're just a familiar, so in the end it doesn't matter. Wash those for me, will you?", she said and went to bed.

"As if. I'm never going to do your laundry" the clothes landed on the ground when he said that and got up to leave.

"And just who do you think will me taking care of you?"

"Hm?"

"You're my familiar, right? Cleaning, laundry, errands... those are to be expected. Make sure to have my clothes ready by morning. Don't worry. If you do your work right, you'll get fed."

"You really are some blockhead, still going on with the familiar stuff. And fed? Are you treating me like some dog or something?", Jake asked but by the time he finished, he already noticed that the pinkette was fast asleep. "Fuck that, I'm not going to bow to anyone's command here", he said loudly and left. it was already deep in the night, but somebody probably was still awake. The best guess was probably to go look for the other non-nobles here, somebody had to maintain everything and it wasn't the mages for sure. He left the wing that was obviously the students' quarters and headed downstairs. For quite a while he wandered around in solitude until he came across a black-haired girl who was busy wiping the dust, she too was probably about his age. "Yo!" he shouted out to her and she turned around to him. She had a pretty face, the hair cut just above the neck and a well-endowed bosom that filled her french maid dress in an almost inappropriate manner. She looked at him with a lot of confusion.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"I hope you can. I accidently ended up at the academy this afternoon and couldn't find out how to return home yet, but despite bringing me here I haven't been assigned a bed yet, so aside from the floor I lack a place to sleep. There's nobody else around so I thought you might be able to help me there. It's just for the night, anyway, if everything works out. I'm Jake, by the way", he introduced himself and reached out to her in greeting.

The girl bowed and shook his hand. "I'm Siesta. But how unfortunate... I'll have to ask Marteau about that. Officially he's the head chef, but he really is more like the janitor of the academy. He's responsible for all the servants around here. He'll know if there are still some spare beds. I'll just finish here, I'll bring you to him afterwards", she said with a sympathietic smile.

"Thanks, I'll wait by the fountain." When he sat down, he finally remembered something that he totally forgot in all the trouble - his personal belongings. Keys, wallet, phone... he shut it down for no, no use in wasting charge when he still didn't know about the availability of electricity, although his initial prospect really wasn't the best. He had yet to see even a single electric light he remembered for just how long he had already been here, his stomach growled loudly.

"Jake?", Siesta asked from close behind him and he jumped in surprise. "It seems you are quite hungry, aren't you?" He heard genuine concern in her voice.

"Well, yeah, my last meal had been almost a day ago... but don't let that bother you, I already have gone longer without food before. I'll have plenty when I manage to get home." _When there was a way to bring me here, there also has to be a way back after all. And then there's the matter about those runes._ He stared at the lines on the back of his left hand. He'd show them and return to his world, no matter what it takes.

Being done with the chores, Siesta guided him further downwards under the building and Jake noticed the sweet and strong smell of fresh food in the air. When they arrived in the kitchen, he noticed that there were still people working, peeling vegetables, mixing spices or cleaning. Siesta headed for a tall, broad-shouldered man with a large hat. "Chef Marteau! A moment, please? It's urgent", she called out to the man. Jake presented his best smile as the large man approached him and Siesta retold his story.

Marteau looked to the ceiling in thought while his hand brushed over his beard idly. "Hmmm... there are a lot of leftovers from dinner if you'd be willing to settle for that. It's the best we have to offer until morning and it would be less that we'll have to throw away. Sadly, there aren't any spare beds right now, but a few of the servants here still have to work for a while and others will get up soon. you could rest in an unoccupied room until there's a bed you could sleep in for longer."

Jake shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers they say. Guess I'll take your offer."

"That's that then. I'll arrange for to that a meal will be ready at the servants' table in the dining room. Siesta, your shift is over anyway, so grab some food for the two of you and show him a room. Breakfast will be ready by 8am, so don't sleep in, Jake. Siesta, by six, as usual. Good night, you two", Marteau said and got back to work. Siesta bowed slightly and Jake imitated the gesture.

The leftovers from dinner, some pork-like meat and a lot of mixed vegetables, had already been thrown together to a stew. After both grabbed a bowl full of it, they made their way to the servants' quarters. After passing a few doors, Siesta spoke up: "Say, Jake, would you like to eat with me in my room? Dinner in solitude is bad for the mood."

Jake considered that offer for a while. _Now isn't that surprising. It certainly is an offer one wouldn't make to a stranger, but she seems too nice to have any ulterior motives. And even if she does, I already have a girlfriend nobody could ever compare to._ After coming to that conclusion, he shrugged. "Yeah, let's. It's nice to have some pleasant company." In the weak candlelight he saw a hue of red appear on her cheeks. _Now now, don't give her the wrong idea..._

When they arrived in her room, barely more than a chamber but with a comfortable bed, a table with chair and a wardrobe, she sat down on her bed and offered the place next to her, but Jake sat down at the table. "Where are you from, if you don't mind?", Siesta inquired after a few bites.

"Far away. So far that even if I told you, you probably wouldn't know. I asked others before and none of them had even heard of the place."

"So how did you even arrive here? You weren't... abducted and left here, were you?", the maid asked worriedly.

"Pretty much. A spell backfired and I was accidently teleported here. And everytime I ask them to send me back, all I get is 'it's impossible' and 'we can't do that'. Annoying as hell, really." Absentmindedly, Jake pushed around a piece of meat with his spoon. This was a different world, but how to measure the distance between this one and his homeworld?

"Have you already asked the headmaster? He is a good and responsible man, he'll be able to send you back for sure." There was a radiant smile on her face when she said that.

"I'd like to have the ones responsible take care of the problem but since they have yet to do anything, I'll probably try that, thanks." He drank the last bit of fluid from the bowl and got up from the chair. "If you don't mind, I'll look for somewhere to sleep now."

For a moment, there was a mischievous smile on Siesta's face which was quickly replaces by the usual cute and innocent one, but not fast enough to avoid his notice. "If _you_ don't mind, you could sleep here... I have to get up earlier than you anyway and you will not have to switch rooms later."

Jake smirked at her knowingly. "Just for your information, I'm already taken, so anything a _bad_ girl might do is futile", he warned her and undressed. Only keeping on his black boxershorts, he lied down on the bed as close as possible to the wall and turned away from her. He heard her undress, too, and felt her back pressed on his when she went to bed. "Good night, Siesta."

"Sweet dreams, Jake."

 _Damn you..._

* * *

Jake woke up next morning when he heard the door of Siesta's chamber closing, and if nobody had snuck in here, that meant it was around six in the morning. Taking his time to get up, Jake got dressed and left the room. Being careful not to get in the way, he just followed the flow of servants down the hallway and soon found himself in the kitchen again. Looking around for a moment, he soon found Marteau again. "Yo, Marty!", he waved to the chef who just raised his hand in return. "What's up? It's a bit early for your breakfast and quite busy down here."

Jake just nodded. "Since you were kind enough to assist me last night, I wanted to ask if I can lend a hand here." _One doesn't bite the hand that gives food after all._

"Not much you could do without getting in the way of others, but you could stoke the fires. The cooks will tell you when it's alright. when you're done with that, no offense but I'd like you to leave this to us."

Thus Jake started going around and fed wood to the fire. With the Eyes of the Dragon, he could precisely see the temperature rise and too soon he had nothing left to do. So he waved goodbye to Marteau and left early to stretch his legs in the courtyard and go through some of his combat moves. There were no nobles outside yet, just a few servants moving fine chairs and tables around, but after a while he noticed that there were also some magical beasts and animals around that kept looking at him. The supersized mole was the most unnerving. When there was the sound of a gong, probably from the dining hall, he went back inside to get his breakfast. He went past the rows of tables that were clearly meant for the nobles to a simpler table where a few servants were already eating. He spotted Siesta sitting there and sat down next to her. "Yo! Good morning, Siesta."

"Good morning, Jake. I take ityou did sleep well?"

"Yeah, thanks for that. A million times better than sleeping outside." The servants' breakfast consisted of a spiced soup and bread, cut-up meat, cheese and vegetables. While he took in his meal, Jake sometimes looked back over his shoulder to see more and more nobles take place. All went well until he noticed a certain pinkette enter the hall. One didn't have to be a specialist to see that she was fuming. _Ear of the Dragon._

"Good morning, Louise! I your familiar waiting outside with the others, hm~?", the busty redhead from the day before asked from her seat, but the mockery in her voice was unmistakable.

"No, he didn't behave so he's still up in my room. I'll get him down later."

"Oh, so the commoner in red clothes who is eating with the servants must be someone else, I see", she giggled and returned to her meal.

 _Thanks, just what I need..._ But to his surprise, Louise just sat down on a seat close to him and started eating, although one could easily her the screeching noise from a knife used with too much force. Everytime he looked in her direction, he saw her eyes shooting death glares through him.

When he was finally full with no other excuse to stay, Jake got up and tried to leave silently, but the moment he did, Louise caught his wrist and dragged him outside behind her. He could have resisted easily but decided against another commotion with literally everyone present. So he just let himself get taken outside where Louise only stopped when she was sure that noone else would be around for a while and whirled around to him.

"WHERE IN THE FOUNDERS NAME HAVE YOU BEEN?", she yelled with a bright red face and tears in the corner of her eyes.

Having something like that already anticipated, Jake leaned back to the wall and replied: "The only bed in the room was the one you occupied and I didn't intend to arouse your wrath by intruding, so I went down to talk to the sevants who gave me dinner a proper place to sleep and invited me to breakfast." He paused a moment. "Hmmm... yeah, that's the whole story already."

Louises voice was trembling as she tried to hold back her anger: "There was... a place to sleep for you, even right next to mine... and you... dare. to. run. off?"

"By 'place to sleep' you surely don't mean that pile of hay, do you?" No reply. "You jest."

"I really was a fool to believe a commoner like you could be a proper familiar. You aren't even a commonor... you are even lower than a dog! Even they know to obey their masters commands! You... you... vermin! Maggot!" She raised her wand to without a doubt cast another spell on him, but with a panicked face Jake ducked and ran back to the main yard. He suddenly felt an explosion right behind him. "Stop and take your punishment, you most worthless familiar!"

"NO way in hell I will!"

She gave good chase but they stopped when they approached the area where the other sorcerers were relaxing with their familiars. Louise took a few deep breaths to calm down and save her further embarrassment. With a nod she told him to follow and he fell in line a bit to the left behind her. "In the future, you'll come upstairs and we'll take our meals together. I'll even see to it that you get a proper mattress to sleep on. I can't let you be such a rebellious embarrassment in case my family decides to visit."

"Sounds agreeable for now." Louise huffed. "What's everyone doing there?"

"All second-year students have the day off today", she answered, "we're supposed to communicate with all our freshly-summoned familiars."

Jake gave them a deadpan stare and said: "I'd just as soon pass...", when he suddenly felt something hot on the backside of his legs. Seeing a small flame, he extinguished the fire this his hand and turned around to find the source.

"Oh?", the busty redhead (her _again_ ) commented, "Is this the first time you've seen a salamander?"

"Keep it on a leash! That was dangerous", he warned her.

She just started explaining with a smile: "It's allright. Familiars under contract faithfully obey every order from their master and they never run away. Isn't that right, Flame?" The salamander wigglet its tail.

"So, Flame's the name, huh?" Jake wondered and knelt down. _Eyes of the Dragon_. He gave the salamander an evil glare. "Flame, you won't do that again, right?"

As fast as his short legs allowed, the salamander hurried and tried to hide behind its master. "Huh!?" she called out in confusion, "What the hell did you just do!?"

Jake had already gotten up and brushed the dirt from his pants. "Louise really was right, animals are smarter than some people. They do kno their superiors."

"What by Brimir are you talking about? Hey Flame, stop acting weird!" She grit her teeth but as she turned back, everything was back to normal, at least to the outside. "Still, Louise, congratulations on covering your failed summoning with an explosion. Nobody but you could pull something like that of. Oh, wait, nobody else needs to", she giggled behind the back of her hand.

"That's not true! I made the summoning properly, he was just what appeared!"

"Unlucky me", Jake murmured.

"Well, he's very befitting of Louise the Zero", she admitted, "See ya around!"

After watching her leave, Jake turned towards Louise as she said: "What's up with that wench Kirche?!"

"So", Jake started, "Louise 'the Zero'?"

Louise looked at him for a moment, then lowered her head. "It's... embarrassing. I don't want to talk about it right now."

Finally getting to something interesting about her, Jake didn't want to let it slide. "So I'm supposed to be your trusted familiar but I din't even get to know your nickname?", he insited.

Louise sighed. "You notice those explosions I kept throwing at you?" He nodded, having an idea where this was going. "Ever since I started practicing magic, no matter what kind of spell I tried, every single spell ends in a detonation. At best they have some unexpected results, such as you understanding our language when you were meant to be silenced." After a moment of silence, she commanded: "Don't jsut stand there! Go get us some tea, at least!"

"Yes, yes, I'm off."

Jake shambled past the tables with nobles when a flying eyeball appeared right in front of him. He staggered back in surprise until he hit something soft which let out a cry. Turning around, his eyes met with Siesta's and he noticed the cake which was supposed to be on the plate she still held. They reached for it at the same time and too late he noticed her stare at his left hand which just put the cake back where it belongs.

"Could it be... that you're the one who became Miss Valliere's familiar, Jake?"

He looked at her in surprise. "You know about that?"

"It's all over the rumor mill that a peasant has been summoned as a familiar."

"Of the whole sentence, only the 'summoned' part is true... and that, too, only until I find a way to undo the process and return home. And the whole noble thing is still weird to me. Those with magic are nobles and those who can't use it are peasants, right?" Siesta nodded, but they were interrupted by the blonde sorcerer, Guiche if Jake remembered correctly, called for his cake.

"Coming right up!", Siesta replied, but Jake suddenly took the plate.

"I'll take it to him."

"But that's..."

"It's fine. This is good enough for that snob", he commented with an evil smile.

* * *

"I talked all night with Verdande here", Guiche enthused.

"I see... all night...", blonde girl sitting opposite him deadpanned while petting her tiny frog familiar.

"Yes. These intelligent eyes... This sensual texture... Truly, it was destined to become my familiar."

"In any case, keep it buried when you're with me."

They were interrupted when the cake was placed on the table. "Order's up!"

Guiche didn't look up from his mole and just noted: "Oh, and bring some more tea as well." And with that, his attention was back to the girl. "Your familiar is very cute, just like you."

"You're such a flatterer." In spite of her words, there was a content smile on her face.

"I won't lie to your eyes."

She suddenly leaned forward and confronted him: "I heard rumors thatyou're dating a first-year recently."

He was visibly caught by that, but was quick to respond: "Such nonsense! There's-"

"-nothing hidden behind my feelings for you... wasn't it?", their waiter who, as Guiche noticed, was still standing around without the tea, interfered.

"What are you-"

"Oh, I get it! the color of the cape changes with the grades! Black is for the secon-years, so Ketty last night was a first-year. I see, I see..."

"What is he talking about?", frog-girl asked angrily.

Guiche ignored that, instead he got up and yelled: "Hurry up and get back to your business, waiter!"

"Wrong", Jake said as he turned a bit towards them, "I'm not a waiter."

"You're that runaway familiar of...", but the shock prevented him from completing the sentence.

Jake shrugged and walked away. "Thanks for yesterday again. And enjoy the souffle! See ya!"

"Guiche, what was that all about?!"

"Oh yes... You know, I told you, right? I had that peasant familiar to deal with last night, that's all." He panicked a little as he noticed _that_ first-year looking around, no doubt for him. "Montmorency, it's far too rowdy here. Let's sit under that tree there!"

"What is it, all of the sudden?"

In the meantime, Guiche didn't notice Jake meeting Ketty whom he helped with her search.

"Lord Guiche!", Ketty called while running towards him. "I have been looking for you, Lord Guiche."

"Oh, Ketty!", he noticed and let go of Montmorency's fingers as if he burned himself. She in turn gave him an evil stare as she understood the situation.

"I brought the handmade souffle for the tea party today, just for you!", the brunette exclaimed with glee.

Montmorency couldn't hold herself back any longer. "Souffle?"

"Oh, well, that..."

"Good for you!", Zero's familiar suddenly said, "You were saying that you would love to have some of it."

Guiche looked at him, flabbergasted. "YOU!"

"It's nothing, just telling the truth, right?"

Guiche ignored Montmorency's question about that, and instead countered: "What is it you're going on about? You're going to found needless misunderstandings with these ladies!"

By now the yelling had attracted quite a crowd of students who wondered what was transpiring there. "What's going on there?", a chubby student asked. Someone replied: "Guiche is picking a fight with that peasant familiar."

Jake, meanwhile, was unimpressed by Guiche's accusations: "What part of it is a misunderstanding? You're the one at fault for two-timing."

And with that, the female wrath was unleashed around him and he terribly failed at calming the betrayed ladies down. The result of it was him sitting on the ground after taking a slap on the face, much to everyone's amusement. The chubby one was the first to comment on it: "You just got dumped, Guiche! Well, you deserved what you just got."

Guiche, who blamed this embarrassment on the stupid familiar, got up and stated: "It seems you do not know how to pay respect to nobility."

Jake shrugged: "Unfortunately, there is no nobility where I come from."

"Very well, then. I challenge you to a duel!"

The dragon thought about what he just heard. "A duel?"

"That's right. I challenge you to a duel! You're nothing but a peasant, and a familiar to boot. Yet you have mocked me, and on top of that, you have made two ladies cry!"

"Cry?", Jake asked stifling a giggle, "they were bot hopping mad." The crowd laughed again.

Guiche was fuming. "Prepare yourself! I'll be waiting at Vestori Square."

Jake grinned after Guiche as he took off, b

* * *

ut Louise interfered with his satisfaction. "You! what are you doing?!", she yelled at him as she, once more, pulled him after her by his wrist.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what? Why are you promising to fight a duel without permission?!"

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to apologize to Guiche. Right now, he still might forgive you."

Jake twisted his wrist out of her grip and stated: "I refuse. Why do I have to apologize?"

"You don't understand anything. Peasants can never win against nobles. You'll be lucky if you get away with just minor wounds!"

"He gave her the cold shoulder and asked after a deep breath: "I already told yu that I'm from a world without nobles. Thus you're right to call me a commoner, because there's nothing but commoners where I live. But what ever made you think that I couldn't defeat a mage? You know nothing about me yet, so I'll just show you." He turned around to some other students who had been following them. "Hey, where's Vestori Square?"

It was again the chubby one who answered: "Over there, straight that way."

"Malicorne!", Louise complained, but during that Jake already thanked him and ran off.

"Oh, this will be a sight!" Malicorne was clearly looking forward to it.

"Oh, geez! He's only a familiar, yet he's always going off on his own!"

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in the headmaster's office_

The headmaster was deeply lost in thought as he thought about what colber just told him and his secretary. "No previous case exists of a peasant familiar."

"That is not the problem at hand!", Professor Colbert interrupted and opened his book, "I didn't recognize the familiar's rune that appeared on him, so I looked it up and found this." He put the book down on Osmonds desk.

"Oh! Oooh! Mis Longville, I apologize, but..."

"Understood", the secretary cut him off mid-sentence, bowed and left, but not without taking a glance on the runes described in the book.

* * *

 _At Vestori Square_

Guiche and Jake stood in the center of a ring of spectators who came to observe the duel. Jake was already bored before the fight even began, since Guiche was too talkative for his taste. "I praise you foractually showing up and not running off!"

"Who would run away?" Jake asked. Since he was about to pop the bubble any moment now anyway, he didn't even need to hold back and gave Guiche his best condescending voice.

And once more, instead of letting them be, Louise had to interfere again: "Guiche stop that! You know that duels are forbidden!"

"Only duels _between nobels_ are forbidden. He's a peasant, so there's no problem."

She kept insisting, but he shut her up swinging around his rose. "No matter what you say, the duel has already started!" A red leaf dropped to the ground and conjured forth a living armor with a spear. "I am named Guiche the Brass. Therefore a brass golem, a Valkyrie, will be your opponent."

Jake was not surprised when the golem just charged right at him, swinging its fist to his stomach. He sidestepped the golem, and although it was made of solid metal, he grabbed it by the neck, tripped it over his leg and ripped the spear from its hand mid-flight. A moment after the armor hit the ground, it found itself pierced by the spear the the chest and pinned to the ground where it dissolved. Sadly, that included the weapon.

Jake turned back to Guiche with and evil glare. "I'll give you a word of warning, _noble_ : If you dare to underestimate me, I'll eat you alive." Ever since the stunt, the crowd had become silent. A strange aura of malice and expectation followed that declaration that made even Guiche take a step back. He assumed what might have been a karate stance and waited for his opponents next move. Guiches reaction was to just summon more Valkyries. As the first reached Jake, his fist shot forward, piercing its chest as his hand transformed for just a fragment of a second into his dragon claw. He shoved the dead armor into the next enemy, forcing two Valkyries to attack from opposite sides. Using the advantage of leverage, he redirected the spears towards each other and pierced by each other's weapons, both dropped to the ground. _Only three left._ One was closer than the other two, so he offensively disarmed it the way he had already previously done. It required more force since he couldn't use the opponent's momentum, but he had plenty to spare. But instead of killing it, he spun around and smashed off its legs in a horizontal strike. Now the final two (minus one grounded) ran forward, the one on the left getting pierced by a powerful spear toss while Jake rolled past the one attacking from the right and came back to his feet behind it. transforming the _teeth of the dragon_ , he attacked it from behind and grabbed his shoulder and the top of the helmet. With the sound of tortured metal, he bit halfway through the neck of the last standing Valkyrie and tore off the rest. When he went to pick up the spear, the head he dropped already dissolved before it hit the ground. The spear in his glowing left hand, he leapt at Guiche who panicked and stumbled backwards, landing on the ground once more. Jake stood above him and planted his knee on Guiche's chest, pressing the air from his lungs.

 _Now, for the grand finale..._ With glowing red eyes and rows of razor sharp teeth transformed, the stear stuck deep in the ground right next to Guiche's head, he leaned deep down, right in front of the noble's face, and whispered: "I told you, I'd eat you alive, right? Right?" Where Guiche was in panic before, he was now scared to death. Just almost, though, because he had already passed out.

As the spear vanished, Jake stood up and stretched. Playing the villain like that usually wasn't his style since most stopped making big trouble when they knew that a dragon was around, but some just wouldn't learn from half-hearted measures. Most could be banished, but for others it was either death or scared to death. It was one of the more painful lessons of life as a guardian. Some beasts were just too destructive to be treated like the others. But even with him just doing his job, Rose was probably even worse, having killed all huntsmen at once. Spread over all their bases, there were hundreds, thousand of them. He hoped he wouldn't ever get close to that.

"That was... disappointing" he spoke towards the sky, "I really expected more than that. Hm. Whatever." He looked around in the crowd. "Could someone get him to the infirmary? Or whatever you have for that? Pretty please? Louise! Come on, I still owe you some tea." The crowd had parted for him to pass through and watched after the pair as Louise tried to match his pace.

"Jake Long... Just what are you?"

"Ah, finally the right question. Took you long enough." He stopped and bowed to her. "A guardian of our magical community, bane of the Black Dragon, and student of Luong Lao Shi, Jacob Luke Long, the American Dragon."


End file.
